STENA Line, which this week switched its Belfast operations to a new £37m terminal at the entrance to Belfast port, Victoria Terminal 4, (see page opposite) has still not made a definite decision about where its Scottish terminal will be sited.

Construction of a brand new terminal at Cairnryan in conjunction with P&O Irish Sea, has been scrapped; but so far the company has not settled on an alternative site. However, it is most unlikely to be its current base at Stranraer as the company wants to cut crossing times by moving closer to the open sea.

Said Alan Gordon, Stena Line, Route Director: "Stena Line is currently focusing attention on a possible move further up Loch Ryan. At present a lot of preparatory work on site investigation, port design and the production of detailed costing models is being carried out to ascertain the best way to proceed.

"The next key stage in the process will be the application for a Harbour Empowerment Order (HEO) which is a necessary planning requirement before any construction work could begin on this major infrastructure project."

The company is believed to be looking at building its own terminal at Old House Point, on the northern tip of Loch Ryan. This would further reduce the journey time to Belfast of the HSS high speed ferry by about 15 minutes.

The crossing time has already been cut slightly by the opening of the new Victoria Terminal 4, at West Bank Road off Dargan Road, on May 7.